"An
elegant meditation on the complexities of the American South--and
thus of America--by an esteemed daughter of the South and one of the
great intellectuals of our time. An inspiration." --Isabel
Wilkerson
An essential, surprising journey through the history, rituals,
and landscapes of the American South--and a revelatory argument for
why you must understand the South in order to understand America
We all think we know the South.
Even those who have never lived there can rattle off a list of
signifiers: the Civil War, Gone with the Wind, the Ku Klux Klan,
plantations, football, Jim Crow, slavery. But the idiosyncrasies,
dispositions, and habits of the region are stranger and more complex
than much of the country tends to acknowledge. In South to America,
Imani Perry shows that the meaning of American is inextricably linked
with the South, and that our understanding of its history and culture
is the key to understanding the nation as a whole.
This is the story of a Black
woman and native Alabaman returning to the region she has always
called home and considering it with fresh eyes. Her journey is full
of detours, deep dives, and surprising encounters with places and
people. She renders Southerners from all walks of life with
sensitivity and honesty, sharing her thoughts about a troubling
history and the ritual humiliations and joys that characterize so
much of Southern life.
Weaving together stories of
immigrant communities, contemporary artists, exploitative
opportunists, enslaved peoples, unsung heroes, her own ancestors, and
her lived experiences, Imani Perry crafts a tapestry unlike any
other. With uncommon insight and breathtaking clarity, South
to America offers an
assertion that if we want to build a more humane future for the
United States, we must center our concern below the Mason-Dixon Line.
A Recommended Read from: The New Yorker - The New York Times -
TIME - Oprah Daily - USA Today - Vulture - Essence - Esquire - W
Magazine - Atlanta Journal-Constitution - PopSugar - Book Riot -
Chicago Review of Books - Electric Literature - Lit Hub